CeBIT 2010: CeBIT Sounds! resonates well

CeBIT 2010 saw the introduction of CeBIT sounds, which was designed to bring the music and ICT industries closer together. Besides showcasing some of the greatest music talent in Germany, the programme also sparked discussions about music piracy and brought in topics such as how musicians can properly claim their rights and who will pay for the creativity. Furthermore, the programme highlighted some alternative distribution channels for the music industry, including technologies such as smart phones and video games.

Prof. Dieter Gorny, Chairman of the German music industry association BVMI, opened CeBIT Sounds! Last week. Gorny, a media manager and musician who founded the German music TV channel VIVA, has headed the influential BVMI since 2007. His speech marked the launch of the new interdisciplinary music business festival CeBIT Sounds! in Hannover. CeBIT Sounds! Brought the music and ICT industries together to discuss and examine their respective contributions to shaping the future of the international music business. Numerous representatives from the industry were exchanging ideas on the latest trends in the digital production and distribution of music in a series of talks.

The voice of the T-Mobile commercials live at CeBIT Sounds! Agnes Caroline Thaarup Ob√©l alias Agnes Ob√©l, who lives in Berlin, is a talented Danish singer who performs her own songs and takes responsibility for production as well as accompanying herself and writing the music and lyrics. Her debut single “Just so”” provides the sound track to the T-Mobile advertising campaign. Visitors heard her perform live at CeBIT Sounds!

Multi-instrumentalist Tim Neuhaus For musician Tim Neuhaus from Hagen, 2009 was a watershed: it marked his first tour of Germany and the release of his new album. The multi-instrumentalist, as he calls himself, began his career as a professional musician soon after completing his study of jazz music. He appeared as a drummer with the highly successful “”Blue Man Group”” in Berlin and became a member of the band “”Clueso”” in 2001. In the meantime “”Tim Neuhaus and Band”” has established a name for itself in the vibrant Berlin music scene. Tim Neuhaus also performed his latest tracks live at CeBIT Sounds!

Acoustic pop rock from Hamburg The career of British-born Duncan Townsend took off in Hamburg, North Germany. His song “”The Caravan of Love””, a duet with internationally known singer Nena, did well in the German charts. Townsend has also toured Germany supporting Katie Melua. His debut album was produced by Andreas Herbig, who has also worked with A-ha, German rock legend Udo Lindenberg and Ich+Ich. Duncan Townsend was one of the acts performing at CeBIT Sounds! He sang tracks from his latest album, which was released in January 2010.

Solo performance of “”beginner”” Dennis Lisk at CeBIT Sounds! German pop and hip-hop artist Dennis Lisk is certainly no newcomer to the German music industry. Lisk – alias Denyo – is a member of the hip-hop band Beginner (formerly Absolute Beginner). He is also a long-standing member of the anti-racist music project Brothers Keepers, in which he collaborated with top artists such as Xavier Naidoo. In the summer of 2009 he released his solo album “”Suchen&Finden””, from which he performed selected titles at CeBIT Sounds!

The latest from the music scene The live acts that’s performed at CeBIT Sounds! catered for a wide range of musical taste. Artists included the North German band Enno Bunger, the post-punk band Ghost of Tom Joad, singer Pohlmann and band, the music project Les Sauvignons, hip-hop band Die Rakede, the newcomer duo Ira Atari&Rampue, Cologne-based band Timid Tiger, singer-songwriter 2.0 Jasper March, rock band Eat The Gun, Swedish singer Siri Svegler and the eleven members of the hip-hop band Lingua Loca.

MySpace Featured Artist Show seeks new talent Undiscovered musical acts at the start of their career who are still without a recording contract may find that CeBIT Sounds! is a good opportunity for a breakthrough. On every day of the trade fair the social network – MySpace is held the “”MySpace Featured Artist Show””, which was designed to discover rising stars of the future. “”With the MySpace Featured Artist Show at CeBIT Sounds! we were again providing German newcomers with the opportunity to perform their music to a larger audience””, explains Joel Berger, Managing Director MySpace GSA & Northern Europe. Five new bands were being sought via www.myspace.com/myspacebandradar.

Musikexperten @ CeBIT Sounds! The music of tomorrow may be represented by the new acts at CeBIT Sounds! but the future of the music industry is something that music experts and new business ventures will also be discussing. One hot topic was the digital distribution of music files. Trends in digital distribution were the topic on the first day of the event, when Joachim Franz, Head of Musicload: Christoph Bornefeld-Ettmann, Head of Operations at Zebralution and Oke Göttlich, managing director of Finetunes, exchanged their thoughts on this major issue.

Innovative distribution channels used by the music industry, such as smart phone applications or computer games were featured again at the conference. De:bug and CeBIT Sounds! jointly staged “”App till you drop!””. Visitors were able to learn about the diverse opportunities to distribute music via computer games. This part of the program was realised with the support and expertise of the Berlin Festival A MAZE, which is concerned with the convergence of computer games and music.

CeBIT Global Conferences with a musical theme Germany’s best-known music producer Mousse T. speake on the CeBIT Sounds! stage about the business prospects of music stars and the business models that will prevail in the industry in the years to come. Joachim Franz, Head of Musicload: Ibrahim Evsan, founder of sevenload GmbH: Dr. Urban Pappi, Director Broadcasting and Online GEMA: Stefan Peter Ross, Managing Director Proudmusilibrary.com. and Mark Chung, Chairman of the Board VUT e.V., will discussed music pirates and ask “”Who will pay for creativity now – how can authors claim their rights?””

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